[M.R.Boruwa]

The more difficult task choosing the place which should not be very far off and should be good. Name came to mind is Muthodi (some place not very common was the priority). Also had to be considered that Monday Office will open at its regular time.

Opened the Google map and search begin-ed. In My last tip from Maravanthe we were planning to come back to Bangalore Via Agumbe and chikmagalur but that did not happen and we came back via Honavar Bangalor route. So Chikmagalur and surrounding ares got the preference. Distance wise it was ok for a couple of hours drive. While searching came across a place Muthodi.

Suggestions came: Maga yake Muthodi hogtira? Kemangundi hogo, sakkat climate ;-). Stay in the PWD guest house.

Did some googleing and found that Bhadra Tiger Reserve Muthodi range has a guest house and it mentioned dormitory is 150 r per head. Called up the guest house, But answer was negative. With my limited knowledge of Kannada I was able to make out only that for a specific periods Room are not given ??? So accommodation went for a toss.

Also except Chikmagalur there was not much info about accommodation in the surrounding areas . most of the home-stays were booked till Sunday. Finally we decided to spend that night somewhere in Chikmagalur. Checked out a couple of hotels and unfortunately all of them (Where we checked) said “Sir, all rooms are books till Sunday evening.

The last option : called up my friend :

Me: Dude, I have a different kind of plan.
My friend: I knew it, Saale Gari main sulayega!!
Me: To tu nahi aa raha hai ?
My friend: Mere paas sleeping bags hai, leke aata hu.

Voila issue resolved .

31st evening, after I came back from Office my friend came to my place. Went to JP Nagar HP Petrol bunk and got the CAR brimmed. cam back home debriefed my friend on the proposed route and also the alternatives. He had GPS on his phone and I had Blackberry Maps. o we were pretty much sure that in case we get lost GPS or GMAP will come in handy.

contd ..

[addyhemmige]

Originally Posted by M.R.Boruwa

Did some googleing and found that Bhadra Tiger Reserve Muthodi range has a guest house and it mentioned dormitory is 150 r per head. Called up the guest house, But answer was negative. With my limited knowledge of Kannada I was able to make out only that for a specific periods Room are not given ??? So accommodation went for a toss.

Also except Chikmagalur there was not much info about accommodation in the surrounding areas . most of the home-stays were booked till Sunday. Finally we decided to spend that night somewhere in Chikmagalur. Checked out a couple of hotels and unfortunately all of them (Where we checked) said “Sir, all rooms are books till Sunday evening.

The last option : called up my friend :

Me: Dude, I have a different kind of plan.
My friend: I knew it, Saale Gari main sulayega!!
Me: To tu nahi aa raha hai ?
My friend: Mere paas sleeping bags hai, leke aata hu.

Voila issue resolved .

Interesting!! So then is it safe to assume that you spent the night under the stars??

[Fauji]

Cool! Did you happen to spot tigers or was it the other way around!

[M.R.Boruwa]

1st of January started pretty early for us. Woke up at 5 and at 5:20 we were on the road.

Direction->
K0nankunte Cross-Nice Road and then Tumkur Road. Till Tumkur road junction it was absolutely no traffic but the toll gates had some traffic. Next place was Gubbi and road is also good. From Gubbi to Tiptur is decent if not good and same goes for the Tiptur - Arsikere piece. By the time we crossed Tiptur the blanket of Fog was slowly going up.




Arsikere was the place to have some Breakfast. Not able to recall the name of the hotel. It was in the middle of the town . The idly was superb.

Sunrise on the way.



Reaches Tarikere by 10:30 AM. We wanted to checkout a hotel to freshen up but we could find only two hotel in the town. The first one was before the bus stand and absolutely no-no. Next one was near main town circle and railway station. This one was good. Not much of a Hifi one but decent rooms and Clean restrooms. However when the In Charge person /Manager came to know that we need the room for just a couple of hours he initially declined giving the reason that all the rooms are booked. After a few minutes of discussion he agreed to give a room which was A/C but the A/C was not working (So it was vacant ). The condition was we can use the room till the A/C mechanic arrives from Shimoga.

Address:

Thirumala Lodge
NH 206, Tarikere 577228
PH: 08261 649402
Contact Person: Vinay

There was a Restaurant also nearby “Manu Hotel”. Where we had our early lunch. Good food and very cheap. 3 course veg lunch costed just 92 Rs. I would highly recommend this hotel for Lunch/Dinner for travelers.

Post lunch was the time to take a CAT nap and let go all the tiredness carried forward from hectic week before.

@ addyhemmige: We did not spent the night under the sky as anticipated but something interesting happened.


@Fauji: We did not managed to spot any Tiger. If would have been the other way around I would have been looking at all of you from Top
Contd:

[manmohanmaan]

Sir, from your map it looks like you missed one of the most scenic drives from Kemmangundi via Bababudangiri Hills (Attinagundi Road). This road exits on the Tarikere Road just outside Chickmagalur. The views are to die for. Guess you backtracked from Kemmanagundi to Lingadahalli and travelled on the SH.